140-year-old foot overbridge collapsed on the Howrah-Jamalpur Superfast Express at Bhagalpur on Saturday morning. The bridge - also called the Ulta Pul - was in the process of being demolished by Railway authorities.

A partly-demolished portion of the bridge fell on a bogey of the train, trapping several passengers. One person succumbed to his injuries while 30 more are seriously injured in the accident, which took place at the Bhagalpur Railway Junction.

Fourteen people have been rescued from the train and have been taken to a district Railways hospital where they are being administered first aid.

However, according to District Magistrate Bhagalpur, Vipin Kumar, only four people have been admitted into the hospital. "The train was headed to Howarh when the accident occured. Four people are in the hospital. Relief vehicles have been rushed to the spot," he said.

The Deputy Chief Engineer and the Assistant Engineer of Bhagalpur Division have been suspended for negligence.

What is shocking is that though the accident happened early on Saturday morning, it took the Railways authorities over two hours to reach the scene - this despite the fact that they have a proper rescue and relief team in place.

In fact, officials say that a three-bogey special train with doctors, relief workers and senior Railway officials on board, is leaving at 1115 hrs IST and is slated to reach reach Bhagalpur in about seven hours.

For the time being, it is the locals - gathered at the scene of the accident in large numbers - who started the rescue operations on their own without waiting for any official team to arrive.

The local administration soon chipped in with a few ambulances but that was still not enough to rescue all the trapped people.

Says Chief PRO Eastern Railways, S Majumdar, "It was the third tier of the bridge - which was yet to be demolished - that fell on the train. The demolishing work was mainly being done in the night and no work was underway in the daytime when trains were being allowed to pass from under the overbridge."

Majumdar reckons that many of the passengers were those who had boarded the train at interim stations. He says that a new bridge - to replace the Ulta Pul, had already been constructed and was in use.

He says that though Bhagalpur station does not fall on the main line, it falls in the way of trains going to Jamalpur and Guwahati and train services in these areas are likely to be affected till rescue and repair operations are complete.

The 211 UP Howrah to Rajgir Passenger train has already been cancelled.

Authorities reckon that the bridge fell due to the vibrations of the train moving underneath it.link